October 23 Wednesday – The fourth and last day of Yale’s Bicentennial Celebration in New Haven, Conn. saw commemoration exercises and conferring of honorary degrees in the Hyperion Theater to more than sixty eminent men. The Doctors of Literature degrees numbered eight: Thomas Bailey Aldrich, George W. Cable, Mark Twain, Richard Watson Gilder, William Dean Howells, Thomas Nelson Page, Woodrow Wilson, and Brander Matthews. Theodore Roosevelt received the degree of Doctor of Laws [The Independent (NY) Oct. 31, 1901 p. 2554].

The New York Times noted Yale’s Bicentennial on p.1, Oct. 24, 1901. A shorter article focused on the honorary law doctorate of New York mayoral candidate, Seth Low, on p.2 and includes mention of Mark Twain, Seth Low, Richard Olney, Yale President Arthur Twining Hadley, and President Theodore Roosevelt joking together before the ceremonies. A reception followed in the evening; Sam thought that “Etiquette may require” him to go.

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam asking if he would make an estimate of the number of book sold for P&P, LM, CY, HF, JA, AC, TSA, TSD and “How to tell a Story.” Bliss wanted to “fix up an advertisement showing the comparative sales along side of our volumes to let the public judge which are the best books,” but not to include Uniform sets or Harpers sets, but only single volume sales. Sam wrote on the margin bracketing this paragraph: “Gosh! What an insane idea!” Bliss also asked about a story where “a little figure” approached him “which turned out to be your conscience” (“Carnival of Crime”) [MTP].